George Frideric Handel (German: Georg Friedrich Händel
(1685 – 1759) was a German-born British Baroque
composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and
organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family
indifferent to music. He received critical musical
training in Halle, Hamburg and Italy before settling in
London (1712) and becoming a naturalised British
subject in 1727. By then he was strongly influenced by
the great composers of the Italian Baroque and the
middle-German polyphon...(+)
George Frideric Handel (German: Georg Friedrich Händel
(1685 – 1759) was a German-born British Baroque
composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and
organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family
indifferent to music. He received critical musical
training in Halle, Hamburg and Italy before settling in
London (1712) and becoming a naturalised British
subject in 1727. By then he was strongly influenced by
the great composers of the Italian Baroque and the
middle-German polyphonic choral tradition.
14 of the 20 sonatas published as Handel's "Op. 1" have
a complex history. Composed at various stages in his
career, they were first issued under that designation
by the Amsterdam publisher Roger in the 1720s, a
publication rapidly followed around 1726 by a "more
correct" but equally unauthorized edition from Handel's
London publisher, John Walsh. In fact, modern
comparison with Handel's autograph of both publications
has revealed serious errors. The Sonata in C minor for
Oboe and Bass Continuo, which was published as No. 8 in
the Roger and Walsh collections, is one of the earlier
works included, being generally accepted by Handel
scholars as having been composed during around 1711 or
1712, the period when he first settled in London
following the sensational success of his opera Rinaldo
in February 1711. During the early years of the
eighteenth century, the oboe and recorder (both of
which were at this time played by the same performer)
challenged the previous hegemony of the violin as a
solo instrument in sonatas, although this is the only
oboe sonata included in "Op. 1." There are four short
movements, an expressive Largo, an Allegro based on a
chromatic theme, an Adagio, and a lively concluding
Bourrée anglaise.
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